As director of marketing for the Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) division that manufactures the Mirasol display technology, Cheryl Goodman is racking up the frequent flyer miles, thanks to the boom in the e-reader/tablet computer market. She’s the one who educates journalists and analysts about Mirasol’s promise of color e-reader screens, along with lower power consumption, better viewing in sunlight and a smaller environmental footprint.
During the latter part of 2009, however, she noticed that her audience had grown to include information technology specialists for publishers. Goodman certainly expected to be making plenty of trips to original equipment manufacturers’ headquarters, but she never guessed that she would be spending most of her time in New York, visiting with media giants who want to know exactly how their newspaper, magazine, book and video content will look on a Mirasol device.
“Publishers are trying to find their digital road map and figure out their content in the new form factors,” Goodman told TechNewsWorld. “Publishers are doing their best in creating compelling content, but when it comes to finding out how to engage with the hardware and what companies are creating, the consumer experience, they’re absolutely trying to get up to speed as soon as possible.”
Now Goodman has an additional title — director of publisher relations — and it’s evidence that there’s a white-hot spotlight shining on her part of the tech industry. Amazon’s (Nasdaq: AMZN) Kindle set off a stampede in the e-ink reader category. The Kindle can last for weeks on a single charge, but that’s because its monochromactic e-ink display demands less power. The success of Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPad has opened up the world of colorful books, magazines/newspapers and video for media consumption, but the battery life slips down to 10 hours of viewing.
